τέμνω Ancient Greek · revision 2661

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=Homer, Iliad|origins=ine-pro *temh₁-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /tém.nɔː/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈtem.no/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈtem.no/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''τέμνω''' (témnō) ^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is from the root [[ine-pro|*temh₁-|t=to cut]].^(Beekes 2010)^(LIV 2001)^(Wiktionary) The original present was the nasal [[τάμνω|tr=támnō]], from ⟨*tm̥-né-h₁-⟩, which epic, Ionic and Doric kept.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960) Attic τέμνω took its ''ε'' from the aorist [[ἔτεμον|tr=étemon]], while those dialects made a new aorist ⟨ἔταμον⟩.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ The nasal present matches [[la|temnō|t=to despise]] and [[mga|tamnaid|t=cuts off]], and perhaps Baltic and Slavic verbs for beating and hammering.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)^(LIV 2001)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Homer uses it, mostly as ''τάμνω'', for cutting flesh, cutting meat for a meal, and above all in the phrase ''ὅρκια τάμνειν'', to make a treaty by cutting the throats of sacrificial victims.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It meant to cut in many ways: to make an incision, to perform surgery (Plato, Xenophon), to castrate an animal (Hesiod), to cut up meat, to cut down trees and harvest crops, and to ravage an enemy's land.^(CGL 2021)^(Wiktionary) It also meant to make by cutting, to hew stones or cut a road, to cut one's way through the sea, and to divide.^(CGL 2021)^(Wiktionary)^(Lust 2003) Aeschylus uses it figuratively of the surgery that heals a diseased state.^(CGL 2021)

+

+ Its derivatives include [[τομή|tr=tomḗ|t=cut]], [[τόμος|tr=tómos|t=section, volume]], [[ἄτομος|tr=átomos|t=uncut, indivisible]] and [[ἐπιτομή|tr=epitomḗ]].^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960) Modern Greek [[m|el|τέμνω|tr=témno]] is a learned word for “to cut”, and in geometry “to intersect”.^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Homer – It is used for cutting meat and for making a treaty with a sacrifice.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)

+ * Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it for castrating an animal.^(CGL 2021)

+ * 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for making a treaty.^(CGL 2021)

+ * 5th–4th century BC – Plato and Xenophon use it for surgery.^(CGL 2021)

+ * 3rd–1st century BC – The Septuagint uses it for pruning vines and hewing stones.^(Lust 2003)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|cut]], cut open; to wound.^(CGL 2021)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(medicine)'' To perform [[m|en|surgery]].^(CGL 2021)

+ # To castrate.^(CGL 2021)

+ # To slaughter a victim, or ''(with ὅρκια)'' to make a treaty with a sacrifice.^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)

+ # To cut up meat; to divide into portions.^(CGL 2021)

+ # To cut down trees; to reap; to ravage land.^(Wiktionary)^(CGL 2021)

+ # To hew stones; to cut a road; to [[m|en|prune]] vines.^(CGL 2021)^(Lust 2003)

+ # To cut one's way through, as through the sea.^(Wiktionary)^(CGL 2021)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ἀνατέμνω|tr=anatémnō]]

+ * [[ἀντιτέμνω|tr=antitémnō]]

+ * [[ἀποπροτέμνω|tr=apoprotémnō]]

+ * [[ἀποτέμνω|tr=apotémnō]]

+ * [[διατέμνω|tr=diatémnō]]

+ * [[ἐγκατατέμνω|tr=enkatatémnō]]

+ * [[ἐκτέμνω|tr=ektémnō]]

+ * [[ἐντέμνω|tr=entémnō]]

+ * [[ἐπικατατέμνω|tr=epikatatémnō]]

+ * [[ἐπιτέμνω|tr=epitémnō]]

+ * [[κατατέμνω|tr=katatémnō]]

+ * [[παρατέμνω|tr=paratémnō]]

+ * [[περιτέμνω|tr=peritémnō]]

+ * [[προτέμνω|tr=protémnō]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[τομή|tr=tomḗ]]

+ * [[τόμος|tr=tómos]]

+ * [[ἄτομος|tr=átomos]]

+ * [[ἐπιτομή|tr=epitomḗ]]

+ * [[la|temno]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Hesychius records a different τέμνω meaning “to milk”, of unclear origin.^(LSJ 1940)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}